Editorial: The Pickens Plan

The Pickens Plan is the only proposal on the table which will lower our dependence
on foreign oil by up to 50 percent over the next ten years. We must reduce our dependence on foreign oil as fast as we are able to act. Reducing foreign oil dependency will result in more stable oil prices, reduce deficit spending and increased national security. Ask yourself – what would $6 per gallon gasoline do to our consumer pocket books and the United States? You know the answer to that and those prices are definitely possible in the next few years.

A broad coalition has formed under the banner of the Pickens Plan. This volunteer army of people exceeds 1.5 Million people and is growing each day. The intent of this army is to be the watchdog and champion of Renewable Energy and Natural Gas legislation on national, state and local levels.

These are some sobering facts relating to our energy current consumption within the United States:
· We consume 25% of the worlds daily oil production.
· In March we spent $19 Billion on oil alone.
· 65% of this comes from foreign sources ($12.5 billion in March)
· 70% of our imported oil is used as a transportation fuel.
· 30% of all that is used as diesel fuel for heavy trucks
· Heavy trucks used $2.6 billion of imported oil in March
· Imported into the USA will increase
· The price per barrel will increase as competition for the limited supplies intensifies, e.g. China and India
· The projected USA oil usage is expected to be $700 billion per year in the next few years

What can we do about this appalling threat to our national security and way of life? Here is how we can achieve the 50% reduction goal within the next 10 years. First we must present a few statistics:
· 22% of or electrical energy production comes from natural gas (NG)
· 50% from coal
· 20% nuclear and the remaining 8% from other sources like geothermal

The short term goals of the Pickens Plan propose to divert the NG from electrical production to transportation. For example, city transit, taxi cabs and local trucks can use compressed natural gas (CNG) and longer distance heavy vehicles can use liquid natural gas (LNG). The 22% of the NG that we will divert from electrical production will come from renewable sources like wind, solar and newly developing technologies like closed loop geothermal wells that produce steam power. The Department of Energy concluded a study showing that 20% of our electrical power needs could be generated from wind energy alone in the “wind corridor” stretching from northern Texas to the Canadian border. The remaining 2%+ must come from solar, coal and geothermal.

Long term goals to be met within the next 50 years focus on renewable energy (10-50 years), nuclear (20-50 years) and the inexhaustible geothermal sources (20-50 years) to produce the ever increasing energy demands of our society. The culmination of the plan would see nearly 100% of our electrical supply being generated by renewable or inexhaustible energy supplies by year 2060.
The remaining oil supplies would gradually shift from transportation uses to chemical applications like plastics other hydrocarbon based applications.

You can be part of this army and only spend minutes per week protecting your financial and security interests. Call your representatives and ask them to support the Natural Gas Act of 2009 (HR1835) and Renewable Energy Standard (RES). Support the Pickens Plan and join our army at http://www.pickensplan.com

Written by:

Charles W. Moore
csjmoore@hotmail.com